Chapter 5: Caught in the crowd
Barsea, Belford’s finest seafood restaurant and bar, buzzed with energy. Students were scattered across tables, drinks in hand, laughter floating above the murmur of voices.
Craig Lesnar stood by the entrance, letting his eyes adjust to the dim, nautical glow of the room. Wood-paneled walls, hanging ship lanterns, and soft-lit fish tanks gave the place a warm, upscale vibe, like you could almost forget this was still a college town crawling with bored rich kids.
He scanned the crowd out of habit. Most faces blurred into one forgettable sea. Same smiles, same fake confidence. All noise.
But then, like a needle through static, one face didn’t blur.
Merlina.
She sat at a corner booth with Phoebe and Megan. Her laugh was soft, her gestures calm, but it wasn’t just what she was doing. It was how she was. There was something deliberate about her stillness. Like she didn’t need to be loud to be noticed, she just was.
She wore a black shimmer sleeveless top tucked into a high-waisted leather skirt. Black again. She always wore black. Not just for the aesthetic, he could tell. It was armor. A shield. A choice. Everything about her felt intentional, like she’d built herself brick by brick to keep something out. Or maybe to keep something in.
Not his usual type. He liked girls like his girlfriend, Adriana. Being, unapologetic, flirtatious to a fault. Girls who played the game because they knew they could win it.
Merlina wasn’t playing anything. She wasn’t trying to perform, to provoke, to win anyone over. She just existed on her own terms, like the room didn’t matter. Like he didn’t matter.
That was what made it hard to look away.
He didn’t want to admit it, but there was something about her that scratched at the back of his mind. Something quiet but insistent. Like a memory he didn’t know he had.